Guau in Spanish: 8 Alternatives to Use Like Native Speakers (with Examples)

You just had the best taco in the world in Mexico City and you want to show how impressed you are? Well, you could say guau in Spanish (wow) which almost sounds the same as it does in English. 

But why not add variety to your Spanish and impress native Spanish speakers by showing how impressed you are yourself? 

You can do this, by using these great 9 alternatives to show that you think something is amazing. 

I’m Spring Spanish teacher Paulisima, and THIS is your first alternative:

1. No manches (No way!)

You see something impressive… you look at this like this, and you say slowly:

No man-ches

Pure Mexican gold! Let’s practice.

¡No manches! ¡No manches!  

2. No lo puedo creer (I can’t believe it)

No lo puedo creer. (I can’t believe it.) 

Esta es más para algo que nos deja en estado de shock. (This is more for something that leave us in a state of shock.) 

Aquí, hay que pronunciar muy bien cada palabra. (Here, we have to pronounce very well each word.) No-lo-puedo-creer. To make it more realistic, repeat it but faster. 

No-lo-puedo-creer. No lo puedo creer. 

Amiga, la entrevista de Oprah a Meghan Markle.
(Girlfriend, the interview from Oprah to Meghan Markle.) 

No-lo-puedo-creer. No lo puedo creer. 
(I-can’t-believe-it. I can’t believe it.)

Que se divorcia la tía Amanda.
(Aunt Amanda is getting divorced.)

No-lo-puedo-creer. No lo puedo creer. 
(I-can’t-believe-it. I can’t believe it.)

Stay until the end to learn a way of saying guau that will make Mexicans chuckle and make me blush! 

3. ¡Está padrísimo! (It’s so cool!)

¡Está padrísimo! Para referirnos a algo bello. (¡It’s so cool! To refer to something beautiful.) 

¡Está padrísimo! 

Another good use would be when receiving a present.

Paulísima te traje flores.
(Paulisima I brought you flowers.)

¡Están padrísimas! 
(They’re so cool!)

4. No tiene madre (It’s amazing)

It has no mother? Bueno, esta es muy informal y no es para usarse con personas con las que no tengas mucha confianza. (Well, this one is very informal, and it’s not to be used with people with whom you’re not close.) 

A great use for this, would be to describe a great meal: 

Paulísima, ¿te gustan los tacos de La Reyna? (Paulisima, do you like tacos from La Reyna?)

¡Sí! (Yes!) ¡No tienen madre! 

Mmm, esta cerveza (Hmm, this beer) no tiene madre. 

María Fernanda made a whole video about the use of the word MADRE (MOTHER) in Mexican slang, check it out! 

5. ¡Qué padre! (That’s awesome!)

Un clásico mexicano. (A Mexican Classic.)

What a father? Haha, literal translations make no sense. Don’t use them! Use chunks instead. Phrases like the ultra Mexican “¡Qué padre!”, are examples of chunks. 

To know more about them, click on the link that’s in the description to download our Free Essential Chunking Kit with the most important chunks in Spanish that you will need all the time.

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6. ¡Qué Belleza! (What a beauty!)

¡Qué belleza! (What a beauty!) 

This you can use to refer to a landscape, a work of art, or a person. Let’s look at some images and practice saying, what beauty!

Okay?

¡Qué belleza! 

¡Qué belleza! 

¡Qué belleza!

Ok, ok, so, tacos are not a person or a landscape, but they’re a true work of art, so it’s ok if you call them a beauty. 

7. ¡Qué bonito! (How pretty!)

What a pretty thing?

¡Qué bonito! (How pretty!)

Qué bonito, se usa para describir algo que es bello, algo en general. Puede ser un paisaje, un lugar o una cosa. Ojo: (“Qué bonito”, is used to describe something that is beautiful, something in general. It can be a landscape, a place, or a thing.) 

You know how nouns in Spanish are either feminine or masculine? You can use “qué bonito” even if the thing you’re looking at is feminine. 

Let’s say your friend is showing you their new computer. It’s la computadora (the computer), but you can still say ¡qué bonito! Because you’re referring to the fact that the computer is new, and that’s bonito (pretty).

So, just learn ¡qué bonito! or, even better, ¡qué espectacular! (how spectacular!) If you want to call something spectacular. 

8. Impresionanti (Impressive)

This is the word impresionante (impressive), but pronounced differently. Come with me to the magical year of 2018. 

It was the World Cup in Russia and the Mexican soccer player of Brazilian origin Zague, was discovered) sending an “adult video” to an unknown person. In the video, he is seen showing his… you know… pointing out the size of it and coining a term that has become part of Mexican pop culture: ¡Impresionanti! 

If you want to make your Mexican friends laugh real hard, next time you want to say ¡guau! En vez de decir guau, di ¡impresionanti! (Instead of saying wow, say impresionanti!)